


A New Sunset

by for_t2



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Coruscant (Star Wars), F/F, Force Ghost(s), Grief/Mourning, Hopeful Ending, Jedi Temple (Star Wars), Lightsabers, Love, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It, Sunsets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:20:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21942805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/for_t2/pseuds/for_t2
Summary: The Final Order defeated, Palpatine and so many others dead, Rey has one last stop to make before she can face the future
Relationships: Jessika Pava/Rey
Comments: 2
Kudos: 57





	A New Sunset

On any other day, Rey would’ve taken a moment to look. 

For a girl who grew up a scavenger on the endless desert plains of Jakku it would all have seemed almost impossible - the towering skyscrapers of Coruscant, the buzzing lanes of traffic stacked one after the other, the billions of shining lights in billions of different colours, the hum of trillions of people, from every corner of the galaxy, all in a single city stretching past the horizon. 

On any other day, Rey would’ve been enthralled. 

But today she had her back to it. Today, her foot hesitating on the final step of the long staircase, the only thing she could keep her eyes on were the four massive blocks of stone in front of her, four murals pockmarked with decades-old blaster scars. 

“Damn.”

Rey couldn’t even tear her eyes away to look at the Resistance pilot behind her.

“So, this is it, eh?” Jess climbed the last few steps to catch up with Rey, taking in the sight of what was once the heart of the Jedi Order. “It’s bigger than I thought.” 

Rey didn’t even move her eyes as Jess marched past her. 

“You coming?” 

Rey finally looked down to see Jess waiting for her. “I…” The words seem to catch in her throat. 

“If you wanted to drag me across half the galaxy for sightseeing, I would’ve said yes.” Jess winked at her. 

“I don’t know if I should.” Rey didn’t need to say why. Jess got it instantly, her smile fading to something more serious. “I’m… You know what he did.” 

“Oh, come on,” Jess huffed. “I’d bet two weeks of rations – three weeks – that he was lying to you.” 

“I don’t know.” Jess wasn’t there. Jess didn’t feel the way the Force flowed through them at Exagol, the way it drew the clouds from every bit of doubt, the way it pulsed, pushed to move, to act. The Dark Side was the simplest, most beautiful thing Rey had ever seen. 

“I do.” Jess took hold of Rey’s hand. Gave her a little tug forward. “And I know that this galaxy has had enough Palpatine bullshit to last a century.” She thought it over. “Several centuries.” 

Or maybe it was the second most beautiful thing.

***** 

On the list of things that Jess wasn’t happy about, leaving Rey alone had to be near the top. 

It was a building she’d never been to in a city she’d never been to on a planet she’d never been to, and, well, they were both just days removed from a massive battle that almost killed them (and everyone else in the galaxy) and which Jess was pretty sure had summoned a whole new level of trauma. Trauma which, as one of Rey’s best friends and maybe (hopefully) more, Jess should be there to help her with. But when Rey gave her that look, well, the word “no” to seem to escape Jess’s vocabulary. 

Besides, if Jess was being honest, the place was kind of a dump. From all the stories she had heard as a kid of the Jedi, she was expecting something grander, something more awe-inspiring. As she wandered around its halls, there were moments when the light caught just right, when the shadows curved just the right way, that Jess could believe it. But the years hadn’t done it well, from the fighting of Order 66, decades of Imperial rule, years of looting, a half-hearted attempt at reconstruction, and then, as the General had put it once “meeting after meeting after meeting. We should turn it into a museum! A monument! A park! A zoo! A fort! A hotel! Blah blah blah.”

It’s a shame. Jess would’ve liked to have seen it when it was at its peak. It must’ve been beautiful. 

“You done?” 

Rey looked around the room again at the sound of Jess’s voice. “I can’t find anything.” 

“The archives are incomplete,” Jess replied, feeling as if she gave Rey enough time. “Not surprising.” It was one of the first bits that the New Republic had tried to rebuild, and, as far as Jess had heard, the bit they spent the longest trying to rebuild. 

“Not like that,” Rey sighed. “I should be able to feel something.” 

Jess respected the Force. Even if she couldn’t feel it, at least not the way Rey or Luke or the General did, but she had seen enough to know how powerful, how amazing it was. But sometimes, when Rey’s eyes got all mystic and when she moved with a purpose that no one could figure out, sometimes, Jess felt lost. “Sorry.” 

“I should be able to feel something.” 

***** 

Jess wasn’t sure if she wanted to step forward.

Even if Rey held out her hand, even if Rey asked her to come, it just seemed like… It seemed like somewhere Jess didn’t belong. A place that was intimate in a way that wasn’t hers. 

“It’s not going to bite.” Rey smiled encouragingly at her. “Promise.”

“I don’t know if this is a good idea.” 

“They’d want you here.” 

And when Rey reached out and grabbed her hand, Jess didn’t really have a choice, did she? Jess let herself be led into the small, dark room, through dead branches and rotten leaves, the smallest hints of wild regrowth and the tiniest of trickling streams. 

“Here.” Rey stopped suddenly at a spot just under the husk of a burnt-out tree, next to one of the long-gone streams. “Here.” Jess followed her as she sat down, a patch of dirt between them, and as she took a deep, unsteady breath. “Jess, if…” Rey looked up at her. “Just in case.” 

“I promise.” Jess didn’t need to be told to watch her, didn’t need to be told to be there to steady her. Even if Rey was just another Resistance leader, she would do it. “Always.” 

And so she watched as Rey let out a long exhale. As Rey’s face contorted with a series of emotions. As she tore into the ground, crying, raging, mourning. As she lay there, slumped over, face buried between dirt-covered hands. 

“I’m here.” 

The silence stretched out for what seemed like forever.

“I’m here.” 

Eventually Rey’s breathing calmed. Eventually, she was able to wipe away her tears. “We’re here.” She reached into her pouch, pulled out a thick roll of cloth and laid into the ground. Two lightsabers, brother and sister, the last of the Jedi. 

The dirt piled back into the hole, swallowing the lightsabers, welcoming them back. And once the Earth was ready, Rey closed her eyes. Breathed. Jess stayed with her, watching. In the silence, the world seemed to breath with Rey, the green seemed to creep back into the garden. 

And in the darkness, Jess could almost make out two people, two ghosts, smiling. 

***** 

The lights really came out at night.

Jess supposed it was same with any city. They always seem to feel more alive, more vibrant, under the cover of the stars. And it was always at that moment when the day turned to night, when the sun slipped under the horizon, that the colours seemed to shine brightest. 

They didn’t need to say anything to each other, sitting atop one of the towers. Just being together, watching the sunset was enough. In the end, maybe that’s why they fight – for the moments like this, for the peace that comes from holding hands with the people you love. 

“We’re not going to rebuild.” 

Rey’s voice sounded small, almost uncertain. So Jess waited. 

“We’re not going rebuild.” Rey said, more forcefully. “We’ve already tried, and… We’re not going to rebuild.” 

“Okay.” Whatever Rey was planning, Jess was in. 

“I think he was right.” 

Maybe not entirely. “Rey?” 

“I mean, obviously he was wrong, but… but maybe he was right about one thing.” Rey turned over her hands almost as if they had secrets to hide. “All the Sith are in me.” 

“Rey…”

“And all the Jedi. And that’s good.” Rey looked over at Jess. “We don’t need them anymore.” Smiled. “Do you want to build something new? All of us, together?” 

Together. With Rey. It sounded scary, but… it sounded nice. “Yeah.” It sounded really nice. “Why not?”

And as Rey shifted closer, resting her head down on Jess’s shoulder, an arm finding its way round her waist, Jess decided that this must be one of those moments where the Force was in balance. And maybe, together, they could make it last.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a lot of feelings about TROS


End file.
